Copy-writing has become the "get rich quick" scheme of the day. Now, here's the truth about writing ad copy: It's hard work.
Copy-writing is salesmanship in print. Yes, you can still make a comfortable living as a copy-writer, but you have to work hard to fill the pipeline and 75 percent of the job is selling yourself and administrative functions.
For all of the copywriters who submit
specs from the AWAI boot-camp's job fair, don't be discouraged if you
never hear from anyone to whom you sent a spec.
I told my wife this when Mary Rose sent about a dozen specs after the job fair in two different years.
The companies that were in attendance were looking for the next Clayton Makepeace. They want to discover someone who is on a fast-track to that status. This means that you have to be more than a good copywriter. You have to earn your stripes. But AWAI markets the job potential with "if you can write a simple letter" you can make lots of $$$ in copy-writing.
What a lot of people don't realize is that you can start working in your own home town and make a pretty decent amount of steady income if you do it right. After getting some experience, you can start working more online by networking with businesses via LinkedIn and other means and avoid competition in the Upwork type bidding sites where you are trying to bid against people who can make a living on one-tenth the income that the average American makes.
I wrote lots of copy in the 1980s and 1990s for small businesses and made plenty of money at it. But, I was actually working in the fly fishing industry at the time, so, I was copy-writing part-time. Most of that was newsletters and print advertising. Newsletters are making a comeback because they bring repeat business into every pet store, every sporting goods store, every gun shop, every craft store, etc... I had clients who made as much as $20,000 extra business per month from those newsletters.
Think about it. You have a world of opportunity at your fingertips and it starts in your own neighborhood.
Get your portfolio filled with success stories at the local level and you'll get plenty of work.
I told my wife this when Mary Rose sent about a dozen specs after the job fair in two different years.
The companies that were in attendance were looking for the next Clayton Makepeace. They want to discover someone who is on a fast-track to that status. This means that you have to be more than a good copywriter. You have to earn your stripes. But AWAI markets the job potential with "if you can write a simple letter" you can make lots of $$$ in copy-writing.
What a lot of people don't realize is that you can start working in your own home town and make a pretty decent amount of steady income if you do it right. After getting some experience, you can start working more online by networking with businesses via LinkedIn and other means and avoid competition in the Upwork type bidding sites where you are trying to bid against people who can make a living on one-tenth the income that the average American makes.
I wrote lots of copy in the 1980s and 1990s for small businesses and made plenty of money at it. But, I was actually working in the fly fishing industry at the time, so, I was copy-writing part-time. Most of that was newsletters and print advertising. Newsletters are making a comeback because they bring repeat business into every pet store, every sporting goods store, every gun shop, every craft store, etc... I had clients who made as much as $20,000 extra business per month from those newsletters.
Think about it. You have a world of opportunity at your fingertips and it starts in your own neighborhood.
Get your portfolio filled with success stories at the local level and you'll get plenty of work.
Just keep plugging and you'll make it if you really want it.
